I get tired of hearing the same talking point:" I'm happy with 8 wins. How many times have we ever had eight wins at MSU? We should be thankful."
I can't help think back to Rocky III - Clubber Lang calling out Rocky Balboa. He was fighting nobodies, fighters past their prime, in an angle to try to hold on to the belt. If State is calling their 8 wins a victory, then I'm calling them "paper victories." If winning 8 games out of 13 is great, we can say that losing 8 out of 13 is terrible. If winning 5 of 6 games is great, then losing 5 of 6 games is terrible. Maybe we had a good team when won seven straight against against losing teams, despite we had to win some of them in the fourth quarter. When we played comparable or superior competition, we were run out of the stadium.
People will claim that we beat who we were supposed to beat. I call them out for saying that we weren't supposed to beat TSUN or NW. If they hold that we were such a great team at 7-0, looking at the talent we had on the field, vs. a first year coach and a Big 10 team, I refuse to acknowledge those two games were ones that we should have lost.
Remember 2011? That 7-6 record was something to write home about. How did we get it? Wins over Memphis, LA Tech (OT), UAB, UK, TN-Martin, TSUN, and Wake Forest. Guess what? LA Tech was the only team who had a winning record.
So, enjoy your paper victories. When these losing teams we schedule decide to start beating us on the field, then we'll have something to look back to and be thankful for.
I can't help think back to Rocky III - Clubber Lang calling out Rocky Balboa. He was fighting nobodies, fighters past their prime, in an angle to try to hold on to the belt. If State is calling their 8 wins a victory, then I'm calling them "paper victories." If winning 8 games out of 13 is great, we can say that losing 8 out of 13 is terrible. If winning 5 of 6 games is great, then losing 5 of 6 games is terrible. Maybe we had a good team when won seven straight against against losing teams, despite we had to win some of them in the fourth quarter. When we played comparable or superior competition, we were run out of the stadium.
People will claim that we beat who we were supposed to beat. I call them out for saying that we weren't supposed to beat TSUN or NW. If they hold that we were such a great team at 7-0, looking at the talent we had on the field, vs. a first year coach and a Big 10 team, I refuse to acknowledge those two games were ones that we should have lost.
Remember 2011? That 7-6 record was something to write home about. How did we get it? Wins over Memphis, LA Tech (OT), UAB, UK, TN-Martin, TSUN, and Wake Forest. Guess what? LA Tech was the only team who had a winning record.
So, enjoy your paper victories. When these losing teams we schedule decide to start beating us on the field, then we'll have something to look back to and be thankful for.